We have all thought about how we wish things could be different, so I won't ask you if you have, but rather how often do you do it? And then ask yourself if there's any point to it at all? It's okay to want to change things, but that's just it, it's some thing you can change. It's something that you can work toward. Think like that, yes, but wish for it, no. I remember I used to want to be taller and to have longer legs. Then I met someone who couldn't stand. I wished I was thinner, until I met someone whose legs couldn't support their weight, so they had to sit all the time. And now that I train the nicest man who is also an above-the-knee amputee, I appreciate every single thing about my legs and what they can do. We are lucky to be here and to be able to do the things we can do, and I fully realize that now.
Wishing something to be different takes away from the good things too. It takes away from the moment and makes you forget the things you are fortunate for. Sometimes we don't realize all the ways we have it good until we meet someone who doesn't, or until we lose it. I appreciate sayings like, "Muddy water, Let Stand, Becomes Clear," and believing that things happen for a reason, but nothing gives me goosebumps when I tell it, like the story of the farmer in Ram Dass's book, Polishing The Mirror, and it goes like this:
"There is a story of a farmer who had a horse that ran away. His neighbor came by and said, "Oh, that's terrible."
The farmer said, "You never know."
The next day the horse came back, and it was leading two other wild horses. The neighbor said, "That's wonderful."
And the farmer said, "You never know."
Later, his son was training one of the wild horses, and while riding the wild horse, he fell off and broke his leg. The neighbor came by and said, "That's terrible."
The farmer said, "You never know."
The Cossack army came through recruiting everybody, taking away all the able young men. They didn't take the farmer's son because he had a broken leg. The neighbor came by and said, "That's wonderful."
And the farmer said, "You never know."
And so it goes."
I will leave you with the idea that maybe we don't always know what's best or what is supposed to be, and that sometimes we really do have to have faith. Thank you for reading.
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